Thursday 6.10 - 9.10pm
This course covers the legal rules governing the use of information and the consideration of social and policy questions that involve the legal treatment of information. What kind of property rights should exist in information? What kinds of information must be public? How should we build an information-based economy while also promoting both privacy and security? All of these questions arise in the professional life of anyone responsible for the information processes and services of any organization. The course begins with a discussion of the idea of intellectual property and copyright, because this body of law is directly important to the information economy and professions and is also critical to understanding many other issues that arise in an information society. Students develop a better understanding of how changing legal surroundings affect their work as information professionalsÑwhether as publishers and content providers, as keepers of digital libraries and archives, as architects of tools to provide access to content created by othersÑand their lives as citizens in an information age.
By longstanding custom, faculty members hold copyright for books, monographs, articles, and similar works as delineated in the policy statement, whether distributed in print or electronically. This pattern will not change. This copyright policy retains and reasserts those rights.
The use of new media technologies has changed the process of creation of intellectual works. Some of the resources (physical, financial, and human) needed to employ the new technologies are shared resources, provided by the University for the common benefit of all members of the University community. But, in many cases, the use of new media technologies requires increased involvement by the University in the form of financial support, expert services, equipment, and other facilities beyond the base level of support and common resources provided to faculty.
Columbia will hold rights in copyright to works of authorship that are created at the University by faculty, research staff, and others and that are supported by a direct allocation of University funds, are commissioned by the University, make substantial use of financial or logistical support from the University beyond the level of common resources provided to faculty, or are otherwise subject to contractual obligations.
~ preamble to CUCP